LABA /YBG Regional championship

By Joe Chapman

THERE were two blow-out wins by Mackenzie High School (MHS) and the Linden Technical Institute (LTI) and a nail-biting victory by New Silvercity Secondary as the Linden Amateur Basketball Association’s Linden/ Youth Basketball Guyana (YBG) Linden Regional Schools Under-19 Championship began at the Mackenzie Sports Club hard court last Friday afternoon.

The tournament’s opening triple-header card saw Mackenzie High crushing Christianburg Wismar Secondary ‘Multi’ 104-21 after taking control at the midway stage 44-8.

 The combination of Yannick Tappin and Kareem Roberts with 29 points apiece, along with 27 points from Leon Benjamin and nine from Kevon Cadogan were too much for their opponents whose best shoot was Matthew Peters with 17 points.

The second game was also a lop-sided encounter as the Linden Technical Institute overwhelmed their opponents, Harmony Secondary, by a 106-17 score-line as Jamal Gilkes raked up a tournament high 42 points in the process. Daniel Lee finished with 18, Devon Duncan 17, Deshjawn Mitchell 16 and Stephon Duncan 15 for the winners.

Kevin Sommersaul hit in six points with Ezikiel Hinds and Delroy Belle five each to be the best players for Harmony, as the Linden Technical Institute were up 52-3 at half time..

However, the third game was exciting with New Silvercity Secondary scoring a fine 40-37 win over Wisburg Secondary. The scores at the break read 20-17 for the New Silvercity side.

Kobe Tappin was the top-scorer with 23 points and David Johnson got 11 for the New Silvercity Secondary with Jonathan Copeland nudging in 16 points for the Wisburg Secondary as teammates Odwyn Baird and Keyon Davidson had eight and seven points respectively.

The tournament continued yesterday afternoon with another triple-header at the Mackenzie Sports Club hard court.

Three more matches are to be played tomorrow afternoon in a round-robin format to determine the semifinalists of this championship.